All Saints

2 Corinthians 5:21, Isaiah 64:6

Our Bible passage today is taken from Second Corinthians chapter 5 verse 21. St. Paul says:

God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Corinthians 5:21)

The Bible teaches that only Saints are going to be allowed into heaven. Well do any of us have any hope? Only Saints are going to be allowed into Heaven?

The Bible talks about those in heaven as being in white robes as if they have no sin on them. My Grandpa used to have a little illustration I’d like to use. He said imagine that there is a plaque in heaven with your name on it.

There’s a plaque with your name on it and underneath that name is a long, long list of all the things you’ve done wrong in your life. Every time you lied to your parents, every time you were greedy, or selfish, or full of lust, or materialistic, whatever the sin was. Just think of that long list just hanging in heaven of all of the bad things that we’ve ever done.

The Prophet Isaiah said: All our righteousness is like filthy rags. (Isaiah 64:6)

That’d be a pretty shameful list for me to think of that hanging under my name. Think how different that list would look next to the list of Jesus life. His perfect record. Let’s say the plaque with Jesus name on it was above his perfect life record with no stains, nothing on it at all.

Well St. Paul is telling us that here’s what God has done. God has taken your name off of your list and he’s decided to take Jesus name and put it over your list so that hanging below Jesus name now is all of your guilt and all of your sin.

Listen to what he says.

God made him who had no sin to be sin for us. (2 Corinthians 5:21)

He had to become our sin. That’s why Christ had to go to the cross and be blamed and and judged by God and punished for all of the wickedness in our life. But then what God does is he takes your name plate and he puts that plaque over that perfect holy list of Jesus’ life.

Listen to what Paul says. He says:

God made him who had no sin to be sin for us so that in him,

that means having faith in him,

we might become the righteousness of God.

And that’s what that means: the perfect holy record before God. So God now looks at you and me who have faith in Christ as never having sinned in our life because the perfect record of Jesus is now hanging under our name.

That’s why someone is weak and sinful as I am can be positive about going to heaven. It’s not because of my own life and how well I’ve lived it. If I had to be judged based on my record and my list I’d be terrified. But thank God he’s been so kind to us to give us that perfect record of our Lord and by faith in him we can be absolutely positive that we’ll be going to heaven someday.

So only Saints are allowed in heaven, only perfect people are allowed in heaven. That’s what you are in Christ. Amen.

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